The factor structure of the 60 item General Health Questionnaire

Male school children (N = 241), all aged 16 years, and 144 men facing redundancy completed the 60 item version of the General Health Questionnaire. Data from the two groups was analyzed separately using unrotated first principal components analysis followed by oblique rotation. The unrotated first principal component accounted for 23% of the variance in the school group, and 13.2% in the group facing redundancy. No subsequent component accounted for more than 6.1% of the variance. For both samples the first 5 components were subjected to an oblique rotation. Results were discussed in relation to previous findings of the GHQ. The factor structure was found to be unstable across groups. The implications of these findings were considered in the context of proposed subscales of the GHQ.